VMware does 64-bits in full

Refines upgrade path

Common Topics

VMware has embraced the world of 64-bit computing via a pair of point releases to its flagship products.

The company this week delivered word that ESX Server 3.0.1 and VirtualCenter 2.0.1 add full 64-bit OS support to the server virtualization wares. All told, VMware now supports 64-bit flavors of Red Hat, SuSE, Windows and Solaris x86. Customers will also see some ease of upgrade tools and more hardware support with the latest releases.

Back in June, VMware launched its VMware Infrastructure 3 suite, which combines ESX Server 3 with VMotion, VirtualCenter, Virtual SMP, Resource Pools and other packages for backup and HA functions.

With the fresh point releases, customers can use VMotion to upgrade ESX Server 2.x hosts and storage to ESX Server 3.0.1.

VMware has also brought support for AMD's latest Rev F processors and Intel's Xeon 7100 chips. The EqualLogic PS300 and NetApp FAS3000 iSCSI boxes are supported now as well.

Lastly, VMware has released a beta of Version 3 of its Converter software. This package lets customers perform Physical-to-Virtual and Virtual-to-Virtual operations. The product should be finalized in the next six months. ®